New expac coming for GW2 soon. Much sooner than I thought it would be. Looks like they're finally adding mounts, which can also fight with you. Also, some new zones, guild halls, elite specs and more. I don't really play anymore so I'll probably hold off as I was pretty disappointed with Heart of Thorns.

Anyway, and I know I'm wierd, but I have to admit my lack of excitement for this expansion could only be measured by the large Hadron Collider. I guess its becasue I have been going through their story, for living story 3, which started off pretty decent and then went *splud* Its basically turned into "release a new grind map every 3 months" and its obviously what the punters want as the maps are full, but it leaves me cold. And we are already in the cycle of people jerking off about how great the new specs will be... which will last a week before they are nerfed, so why bother speculating.

I guess I'm getting older, wiser, or more of a miserable git.

Anyway I imagine they are pushing to wrap up the overall story as they see the writing on the wall for the game long term.

I played the Demo. The map is nice, and the Graphics are very good. They Hydra enemy is in articular very well animated. The Mounts are well animated, but basically function like "you get one special attack with the mount and it vanishes leaving you with your skils" and can be summoned out of combat.

Otherwise... its a map. With tantilising interesting buildings shown in the outside demo area where you cant reach them. There is one story mission thats fun enough. And.. ya. I've seen enough of it really after an hour.

I'm kinda-sorta hyped. Honestly I was pleasantly surprised with GW2 when I returned a month or so ago to finally go through Heart of Thorns, the new living story areas, etc. It seems some designers are finally realizing that GW2's strength is in spontaneous co-op pve realized through various dynamic events and event chains instead of the massive clown fire that are dungeons (they still suck), and that makes me hopeful for POF.

I still very much like this game and i'm looking forward to the expansion. They are not perfect but they are great at fixing their occasional fuck ups and HoT and the season 3 stuff has to turned out into very enjoyable content.

Ok. About 2/3 the way through the story. The story is, so far, pretty much shite. The new maps however are larger than the Heart of Thorns maps, are very well detailed, and have plenty to do. The mounts are fun, though I was in a group lead by a guy in a Griffon, and I left it because as far as I could see he was basically leading the group around on routes where no-one with a Griffon could follow, so he was pretty much showing off.

I finally leveled my first character to 80 yesterday. The combat is still pretty meh for me but from what little I've played of the new expac it seems pretty good so far. The mounts in particular are very well done, arguably the best implementation of mounts in any MMO. I don't know how long I'll stick with it this time because it always comes down to the mediocre combat and the lack of defined roles for your character. It seems like everyone is running around like a chicken with their head cut off in a dps spam fest while trying to keep yourself alive at the same time. GW2 is a prime example of why the trinity is used so much in MMORPGs.

Yeah, I the "approved builds" that everyone talks about are massive glass cannon builds with specialized healers. I pretty much have found that that is a load of old bollox and I have built a lot of survivability into my builds, Particularly in fractal dungeons, because I find the DPS of people who are dead is not that high. People actually have started complaining that builds have no survivalility on Metabattle, and I was shocked at this last time I looked at it.

Some people insist that the game is much better with no tank at all, but frankly I think they are just trolling. And the sad thing is that every time I;m in a meta group you see the people using the metabattle builds all downed instantly, as they are using builds they have found online, and they simply cant take getting hit.

Raids, though have really fucked things up as people are basically either willing to get the Meta, or they are locked out of the content. I've never PUGed a raid, and I'm frankly afraid to as there are probably gear checks, and kicks. I am in a guild that raids as my old guild seperated into the Raiders and the "other people" who were seen as not having the skill to join the elite raiders. Which mean that a whole bunch of people were invited into the guild who I have literally never ever spoken to since they have been brought in to form the raiding group.

So a bunch of us formed a "derp" team where they said that they don't care what people run... and of course those people now quote the online builds and rotations that they were railing against before. Raiding is shit. [/rant]

One problem of the new maps is that they have invisible walls in a lot of places for no good reason that I can see. Why give people the ability to go anywhere and them block them off with nothing? If you don't want them at the top makes a really high mountain. That said, I do like the new maps though, they are large, pretty well varied and I can do exploration, which really is what I like to do. The mounts are fun, but the Griffon is so OP in terms of getting around it's just not funny. I'm taking my own sweet time getting to it.

renanet have released a statement regarding the Mount Adoption License Loot Boxes.Hi,

We made a commitment to you in March 2012 that we’d fund GW2 live development through non-pay-to-win microtransactions. We try different ideas, but we always hold true to that commitment. We’ve been collecting and discussing your feedback on the Mount Adoption License, and today I’d like to acknowledge and respond to the concerns you’ve raised, and to share our perspective with you.

You have valid concerns about random boxes. We hoped that the design of the Mount Adoption License would be reassuring. In this case, we made some missteps:

At a time when there’s a lot of debate about random boxes in gaming, we should have anticipated that a new system with a random element would cause alarm.We released mount skins with three different purchase models, but with the majority of skins released so far through the Adoption License. It’s easy to perceive this as intentionally channeling you toward randomization.The Adoption License is a large set at 30 skins. We stand by the work our artists put into each skin, but it’s understandable to see this as pushing down the odds of acquiring any one skin, and to worry that we might add more skins to lower the chances further.Here are some of the benefits we had in mind when designing the Mount Adoption License:

You get a brand-new, unique mount skin every time, for a substantial discount versus an individual purchase price.It uses a progressive mechanic. Every license gives you a new skin to use and increases the odds of acquiring any remaining skins.You’ve requested variety, and this is a way to support variety. Individual sale is a mechanic that works with a few, flashy skins. Using a grab bag mechanic gives us leeway to create skins to suit a wide range of player tastes while offering a lower price per skin.Microtransactions can be polarizing, and we’ve received both positive and negative feedback on the license. We won’t change the existing license in a way that would invalidate the investment players have made, but I want to confirm to you that our next planned mount skin releases will focus on individual sales like the Reforged Warhound and bundles like the Spooky Mounts Pack. We will not add any skins to the currently available Adoption License, thus not pushing down the odds of acquiring any one skin in that set.

We appreciate the thoughtful feedback many of you have provided, and that you hold us to high standards for monetization. It’s been a challenging but wonderful goal to support live development and Living World purely through optional microtransactions, and it’s your support that’s made that possible. Thank you.